It's a girl gorilla at Lincoln Park Zoo

Patty is a western lowland gorilla born to Bana at Lincoln Park Zoo. (Phil Velasquez Chicago Tribune)

A western lowland gorilla born at Lincoln Park Zoo last month is a girl, officials announced today.

The baby, an endangered species in its native Central Africa, has been named Patty and continues to do well, the zoo said.

"Patty’s mother Bana has cradled her closely and carefully," the zoo said in a statement. "So closely, in fact, that it has taken the zoo’s animal care staff some time to get a close enough look at the infant to confidently confirm she is a girl."

Maureen Leahy, curator of primates at the zoo, said the 17-year-old Bana "is being a really great mom. She is doing exactly what we hoped she would do, which is tenderly cuddle, nurse and care for her baby. There has been no reason for animal care staff to handle the baby, so we’ve just had to wait patiently for Bana to give us a close look at the infant.”

The new infant joins six gorillas at the zoo, which said the baby can be seen at its Regenstein Center for African Apes. The center is open from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. daily.

The zoo uses computer touchscreens to communicate with apes. The zoo said Bana, since becoming a new mom, now wants to engage with the zoo’s animal behavior and cognition scientists.

“Before having Patty, Bana showed little interest in the computers, but recently she has started voluntarily engaging and seems interested to participate. It’s exciting,” said Leahy. “It is also common for adult gorilla females with a new infant to start elevating their status within the social hierarchy, and I think Bana is doing just that. Since Patty was born, Bana has been more confident about approaching the researchers, and not necessarily deferring to the more dominant individuals who typically like to monopolize the computer.”